Executive Branch & Bureaucracy
- Identify and explain the organization of the Executive
- -the executive branch consists of the president who is the head representative of the country. he has his individual powers and restrictions listed in the second article of the constitution. he has people who help him accomplish his goals being the: chief of staff, national security advisers, and various other assistants.
- Identify and provide an example of the powers of the Executive, both formal and informal.
- -the formal powers given to the president are listed in the second article of the constitution. those powers include the power to veto, the state of the union address, and their role as the commander in chief of the military, meaning they control the military. the informal powers of the president are implied and not written, these powers include executive order. these powers usually expand during wartime.
- Identify and explain how Executive shares powers with the Congress, Judiciary, and bureaucracy.
- -the president shares powers with the other parts of government in the form that the president can veto any bill the congress tries to get passed and the congress can impeach the president if they see fit to.
- Discuss the implications of Executive sharing powers with each of the following: Congress, Judiciary, and bureaucracy.
- -because these powers are shared, it prevents a president from having complete control and pursuing his own personal agenda without the consent of the “people” these shared powers were intentionally separated to prevent one branch of government from becoming too powerful. this is thanks to the theory of “separation of powers” by Montesquieu. the president being connected to so many institutions gives him the responsibility of overseeing government operation, but gives him little power to react.
- Discuss the functions that Executive performs.
- -since the president is the main feature of the executive branch, his powers are the guiding principles and they were as follows: administrative head of the nation (supervise and provide leadership), commands in chief of the military (highest ranking officer),convene congress (call special sessions, inform congress of the sotu), veto legislation (disapprove bills), appoint various officials (federal judges, ambassadors, cabinet members, etc.), make treaties (with foreign nations, recognize other nations), and grant pardons (to individuals except in the case of impeachment).
- Identify how the power of the Executive has/may evolve gradually.
- -he has more power than the older presidents do since the executive has grown stronger over time. this is due to the fact that congress does not stop the expansion of power in a presidency and this sets a precedent for another president.
- Identify how the power of the executive has/may changes dramatically as a result of crisis.
- -in times of crisis, the power of the executive increases greatly. during times of crisis, the president might take steps to help the country without the consent of congress, such as the war powers act, which allowed the president to organize the country for war and monitor communications between foreign countries and the u.s. another example is with fdr and the new deal, who passed some of the programs with executive order rather that waiting for the consent from congress.
- Identify and discuss the ties between the Executive and political parties.
- -ties between the executive and political parties are that the president gets elected into office representing their party. as they are in office, they don’t have to stick to that party, however most do. therefore, by representing this party, the president usually favors and passes more bills by their political party in congress. sometimes this can be bad and create a divided government if the other political party is not receiving equal opportunities.
- Identify and discuss the ties between the Executive and interest groups.
- -by listening to interest groups and trying to solve their problems the president is able to gain more votes and money from the interest groups.
- Identify and discuss the ties between the Executive and media.
- -the media is generally negative towards the president and usually acts a watchdog over the president and other members of the executive branch but just as the media can use it to make the potus look bad, the potus can use the Media to make him look good, allow presidents to make themselves look good to the public.
- Identify and discuss the ties between the Executive and state and local governments.
- -the executive can exert influence on state governments in several ways. one way is through block grants. by withholding money or services the fed can force compliance from bad states.